Skip to main content

A DIY Revolving Soldering Board And Some New Enamel Earrings


So, it's been a while. My last blog post was the end of August. I decided to take a few weeks off in September to just have a break and to get over the "bangle-burnout" I was suffering from. July and August were very busy in my shops for bangles especially and everything else {ironing mostly} was just not getting done... plus I just felt like a break. 

I had a long list of things I had to do during my break which included doing some decorating, make new stock, make some new silver bangles for hallmarking, do the ironing {!}, tidy kitchen cupboards, clean my shed and varnish my jewellery bench, register on Amazon Handmade, update my website and mourn my sweet cat Tuppence. Hang on! That last bit wasn't part of the plan but sadly old age caught up with her and she was put to sleep on Sept 2nd.


So I spent a couple of days feeling sad and missing a cat who had become my constant companion for the last few years. She liked to sit on my knee when I was at my computer and would stare intently at the screen as I attempted to type and quite often would help me to type too, adding a long line of 0000000000000000's to my text when I least expected it. 

I did get quite a lot of the things on my list done despite feeling a bit down. I made some new stock, including the enamel earrings above, which I'll post about next week plus I came up with a really cheap alternative to the shockingly expensive revolving soldering stand that Cookson Gold sell for £43! Ok, the Cookson Gold stand is made of cast iron and it's a lovely shade of blue. Mine cost me just over £2 and bit of Super Glue.

I bought some lazy susan bearings from qualitybearingsonline.com which are very cheap - £2.19 and free delivery - took an old soldering board and some Super Glue and glued the bearings onto the board.


I was going to screw the bearings onto the board but it just started to crumble when I tried drilling a hole in it so I tried attaching it with the glue and it worked fine.
I then put another soldering board on top and ta da! A revolving soldering board!



The board sits quite safely on top of the bearings and I can raise the height of it if I need to by just sitting it on top of a few more boards. I'm sure a slightly bigger board would work ok on it too. I've used it a couple of times and it's great! It's really useful for the type of bangles I make with a length of wire coiled and twisted round the bangle as I like to solder the wire in place around the bangle.


Being able to turn the soldering board as I pick solder the wire in place makes life a bit easier and I'm all for anything that makes soldering easier :D




Copyright © 2015 Cinnamon Jewellery. All rights reserved.

Comments

  1. So sorry to hear that Tuppence has passed away. Our kitten companions are an integral part of our lives, and their memories stay with us long after they are gone.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ohh, I am so sorry about Tuppence; she looks so majestic, so beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm so sorry to hear about your Tuppence. :( It is not easy when you lose pet. Cats are so fascinated by computers and typing.
    I haven't heard of Amazon Handmade. I started a supply shop on Amazon in late spring and it has been very successful!
    Your bangle with the twisted wire detail is gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you! We do tend take out pets for granted then miss them so much when they are gone.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh Tracy, so sorry for your heart break. :'( Nothing can really prepare us even though we know that our pet is old. I have a candle that comes on everyday for my little Cosmo by his ashes. I miss him lots. He was my companion also here at home in the studio and with just my life for the past 16 years. I just realized he helped me meditate every day. Only because I would have to carry him outside and he'd take FOREVER to go to the bathroom. He'd just take his time and I would have to just sit there. LOL! Yesterday was the first time I sat out in the back since he passed back in April. Well...I just wanted to say you are not alone. Lots of hugs and kisses. Xoxoxo. Kalaya

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your lazy Susan is AWESOME! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comments Kalaya. Tuppence is the 2nd cat I've lost in a year. I still have one left but he's not a cuddly sort of cat so I really miss how Tupper used to sit on my knee ALL the time and cover my clothes with cat hair :D

      Delete

Post a Comment

Your comments and questions are very welcome!
If you would prefer to contact me directly please use the contact form on my "get in touch" page.

Popular posts from this blog

Combining Soldering And Enamel

The need to make cute, brightly coloured enamel studs propelled me into the world of combining soldering with enamel a couple of years ago. I knew from reading up on it that it was possible to enamel and solder on the same piece but wasn't too confident I was able to do it back then. It was a slightly embarrassing occurance that made me just get on with - I'd made some enamel studs with glued on stud posts. I'd used 2 part epoxy resin which was a job in itself as it set hard after 5 minutes so I had to keep mixing more up. The finished studs looked ok but that little voice in my head kept asking "are you sure you want to use glue?" I wasn't but didn't think I had any other way to do it so I used glue. I sold my first pair and merrily sent them on their way to Canada. A couple of week later the buyer got in touch to say the stud post had come off one of the earrings and the other was hanging off. I was mortified, apologized profusely and refunded her m

Etching Silver Using Nail Art Stamps

So my love/hate relationship with etching sterling silver continues. I've tried a few times now and always end up with different results most of them not that great to be honest. I've tried connecting the silver and a piece of copper to a 9v battery and also heating the ferric nitrate. Sometimes the results are good sometimes not so good. I currently have an etched piece of silver sheet waiting to be reticulated and rid it of the mess that is the etched "pattern".  I now know that using stamps and Stayz On ink just doesn't work with silver - the time needed to etch using ferric nitrate is much longer than etching copper and the ink starts to wear away after about an hour. This results in the pattern being patchy as the resist is eaten away and the silver ends up quite lumpy and course looking. I have yet to try using pnp paper. I don't know why but it all seems a bit of a faff to do. I don't have a laser printer so would need to find somewhere or

Embossing Metal With My Sizzix Bigshot

I must admit up until a few weeks ago I was vaguely familiar with the name Sizzix but as to what you actually did with a "Sizzix" I was completely in the dark! That was until I stumbled across a video from Vintaj showing how you could use their embossing folders with a Bigshot to create designs on metal ("metal" - my favourite word after chocolate!) I was really impressed and itching to have a go, I just needed a Bigshot........ I waited a few weeks then when the urge to possess one overcame me I went out debit card at the ready..............and the shop had sold out! So I trundled off to The Range on the off chance and came home clutching my own surprisingly heavy pink and black wonder machine. It sat on the dining room table for a couple of days while I waited for the embossing folders I'd ordered online to arrive then the time came to start playing! I started with some pre-cut 24g copper hearts and the Wildflower Vines and the Butterfly Swirls Deco